Patrick Stewart at MegaCon 2013

[Editor’s Note: Special thanks and shout out to SunnyStefani and Mrs. LanceAround for their assistance with this post.]

“I’m so glad we decided to move him to this venue,” the manager in charge of allocating rooms for MegaCon whispers to me as he glances over the crowd. There are now over 4000 people piling into the room.

By “him” the manager was referring to Sir Patrick Stewart, the Star Trek Captain Jean Luc Picard himself as well as the legendary Professor Xavier from the X-Men movies. He was about to enter the auditorium to address the 4000+ fans; many of whom had worn Star Trek costumes for the occasion. The originally scheduled venue would have only held about one third of this crowd, the MegaCon manager muses.

Sir Patrick

Patrick walks through a rear door casually dressed in blue jeans and a long sleeve shirt with a leather jacket and wearing an old, faded blue baseball cap. The MC announces his appearance on stage with much bravado, reminiscent of a scene from the movie, Galaxy Quest. After removing his hat and jacket, Sir Patrick speaks for a few minutes about some of his current and imminent theatre and movie gigs before the MC interrupts his monologue and begins to introduce the long line of audience members who have waited several hours for the opportunity to ask questions.

After initially grousing that he still had more of his “bit”, Patrick gamely began to address the questioners, but only after warning them that they have to ask “original questions.” When the first questioner begins to ask a very common Star Trek question, Patrick is quick to re-direct her and succeeds in getting her to ask something unique.

Star Trek Fan Begs For the Truth About Dr. Crusher

The next questioner, dressed in a red Star Trek uniform, goes to great lengths to ask Patrick why his character, Jean Luc Picard, dismissed the obviously romantic advances of Gates Mcfadden’s character, Dr. Beverly Crusher in the scene where they last met. After several minutes where the Star Trek fan emphatically recreates the circumstances of the entire scene, Patrick draws a laugh from the audience by reminding her that he is only an actor, not the writer, and that there were 178 episodes of the TV series which were made 20 years ago, not to mention all the movies, and he can’t even remember what he did yesterday!

Unfortunately Only About a Dozen of Those in Line Were Able to Ask a Question

From there the remaining half hour or so of questions are an entertaining mix of Patrick’s personal and professional life; from a question about what he said to his son before his wedding to an endorsement for his upcoming theatre shows and movies. One audience member asks if Patrick will do “something special” for her and, after a long, pregnant and tension filled pause Patrick adroitly responds (to the delight of the audience) that he just did something special for her–simply by answering her question!

Then, with little fanfare, he thanks the 4000+ fans who had come to hear him speak, gives a wave of his hand and leaves the auditorium to a standing ovation from the appreciative crowd.

The Fans Loved Patrick

Star Trek Uniforms Were Ubiquitous

These Fans Paid a Lot of Extra Money to Sit in the VIP Section at the Front of the Auditorium